- Choose a hypothesis seen as important by scholars in the literature but for which no one has completed a systematic study. ("literature"?)
- Choose a hypothesis in the literature that we suspect is been adequately confirmed and investigate whether it is indeed false.
- Attempt to resolve or provide further evidence of one side of a controversy in the literature—perhaps demonstrate that the controversy was unfounded from the start.
- Design research to illuminate or evaluate unquestioned assumptions in the literature.
- Argue that an important topic has been overlooked in the literature and then proceed to contribute a systematic study to the area.
- A question that
- people care (and/or?)
- has not been studied (and/or?)
- the existing confirmation might be wrong (and/or?)
- relates to one side (and/or?)
- the premise is wrong (and/or?)
- something is missing (and/or?)